GROW OP 2015 THE CULTURE OF LANDSCAPE
23 – 26 April 2015Gladstone Hotel’s 3rd annual Grow Op exhibition greets spring with open arms from April 23rd to 26th, 2015. Curated by Victoria Taylor and Graham Teeple with Britt Welter-Nolan, this four-day exhibition celebrates innovative ideas and conceptual responses to landscape, gardens, art, and place-making under this year’s theme, the culture of landscape.

Grow Op 2015 facilitates a multi-disciplinary forum across a broad range of creative practices. One of the most intriguing annual exhibitions in Toronto, Grow Op encourages an array of perspectives and dialogues surrounding landscape and place. It challenges our understanding of nature and the built environment around us.

How can landscape architecture be a driving force in the creation of sustainable cities? How can design not only enhance the lived experiences of citizens and communities, but also improve urban infrastructure and functionality? What does a contemporary culture of landscape in relation to our cities look like? What does it sound like? Feel like? These questions are imbued in the multitude of jury selected artworks, accompanying talks, tours, parties and even a fair of local organizations focused on urban agriculture at Grow Op Gets Dirtier.

School Groups Days $35 (11am – 5pm)
Register Here: http://growopschooltour.eventbrite.ca
Prepare yourself for Future Ruins – an evening of short films and videos exploring the theme “culture of landscape” from disparate perspectives, with real and imagined architectures, traumatic collisions of past and future, all the while pondering our moment of crisis in the newly minted era of the Anthropocene.

GROW OP TALKS
Getting Grounded: How Landscape & Design Shape Urban CultureThursday, April 23rd, 6:30-8:30 | Ballroom
Hosted by After SchoolIn Partnership with the Toronto Botanical Garden and Jardins de MétisA private reception and viewing of the exhibition will follow.

Can landscape architecture be a driving force in the creation of sustainable cities? How can design not only enhance the lived experiences of citizens and communities, but also improve urban infrastructure and functionality? What kinds of meaningful relationships can city dwellers cultivate with the natural world to boost our psychological, aesthetic, economic, and environmental well-being?
Join Michaela MacLeod (Polymétis), Paula Meijerink (WANTED landscape), Ran Goel (Fresh City Farms), and Jay Wall (STUDIO JAYWALL) in conversation with After School moderator Nicola Spunt on the subject of how landscape and design influence urban culture. The interdisciplinary panel will explore how intelligently designed outdoor spaces contribute to the vitality of our cities and community engagement with natural systems can enrich our lives and diminish our untenable demands on water, air, and soil.
Admission:
Advance tickets: $20
Students: $10
Door Tickets: $25 ($15 with a Grow Op ticket stub from that day)

Friday, April 24th | 7PM – 10PM
General Admission $10
Party with your plants! Join us at the opening reception, enter the urban jungle and party with all of the artists & design that make the magic happen at GROW OP 2015!

The party will continue on in our Ballroom with Samba Squad and Uma Nota. Samba Squad are an innovative group that is forging new directions by mixing world rhythms with the sound-power and street-feel of the drums of the Afro-Brazilian Samba tradition. Uma Nota began as a music night at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel in 2007 and remains a recurring event in that city. Uma Nota is a showcase performance series with an ever-changing lineup of performers.

Greet spring with seeds, plants, music, food and much more – all in celebration and raising awareness about the art and practice of urban agriculture. Let’s get dirtier together!! Special workshop by Bowery Project and an organic tasting from Chef Jamie Kennedy in collaboration with the urban farmers at Fresh City Farms. Bring your seedlings to a special family brunch or register for one of the many workshops.

GETS DIRTIER celebrates the art and practice of urban agriculture with venders and community groups hosted in the hotel ballroom by local food advocates the Bowery Project. Join a Kokedama workshop by the Bowery Project, enjoy an organic tasting from Chef Jamie Kennedy in collaboration with the urban farmers at Fresh City Farms and have all your questions answered by permaculture farmer and chef Katie Mathieu.. Bring your seedlings to the Hotel’s special family brunch and register for one of the many workshops. Lets get dirtier together!!

For questions and to book a table please contact: gladstonegrows@gmail.com
#GROWOP2015
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